The adventures of the Star Raiders
by faulkie
Summary: This is the fanfic that you've all bee waiting for among {SR}
1. The beginning

The Star Raiders are an elite force, often hired for risky situations. led by the legendary SirTom909, they partake in many missions. They were almost a myth and Faulkie could not beleive his luck. He had been invited to join the Star Raiders. He was sat on a Pinkal chair, mathching his crest on his chest. Faulkie was not his real name, but as Star Raiders were a secret organisation, he felt it wise to register his name as Faulkie. Behind the metal desk was SirTom909, on his Yellowboze chair. He was an admin of the Star Raiders. He had black hair and clothes, and really looked the part of the leader of an organisation like the Star Raiders. Most outside people knew nothing of the Star Raiders, some not even beleiving of them. But now, Faulkie would learn everything of them. Only select hunters could join, and he was one of them.  
"Are you ready to join the Star Raiders, Faulkie?" SirTom909 asked. This wasn't his real name either, but at this early stage, neither knew the other one's name.  
"Yes," replied Faulkie, then thought... "Sir." He added sir out of respect, but also as it had just occured to him the age difference between them. He was just 13. Of course, Faulkie didn't know how old SirTom909 was, but he's guess he was in his early twenties.  
"No need to call me sir." he laughed. "I think you're gonna fit in here just fine!"  
Faulkie felt a lot better now. He liked SirTom909. Contrary to his exterior appearance, he was very friendly. Of course, he could imagine it would be very different on the battle field. As a child he had been told of the Star Raiders' many exploits, let feircely into battle by none other than the man sat in front of him now.  
"Please," said SirTom909, "Take the time to meet the other Star Raiders." He opened a door. This door was not the door Faulkie entered through. It led to a room filled with all manners of hunters. One that caught Faulkie's eye was a tall man, with long pink hair, trailing down his back, and dark green clothes, clothes that are customary to a HUmar, that reminded Faulkie of the forest. He looked as though he was a teenager, maybe sixteen or seventeen. But despite his youngness, he looked very serious and expereienced in the way of the Star Raiders.  
"Hello" said the hunter, "Are you Faulkie I've heard so much about? SirTom909 says you're a very skilled hunter." Faulkie was honoured that his hero had called him skilled. At that moment, he woulldn't like anything more than to go out on his first mission with the Star Raiders. The man started speaking again. "Of course, you have to be skilled to join us, we're the elite!" Then the man said, "Nice meeting ya!" and walked off.  
Faulkie thought of the first time he met SirTom909. He was on ragol's caves. He had just taken the teleporter that leads to the sewer system... De Rol Le. He was struggling a bit, he needed some help. It was understandable, because Faulkie is a FOnewm. He rapidly fires Rafoie, and that was very effective, but he just didn't have enough health. He ran out of monofluids... Faulkie blacked out. When he woke up, he was in the secret Star Raider's base, which is where he is now. He woke up and looked out of the window. He was on one of Ragol's moons! Then SirTom909 ame in and gave him the offer.  
Faulkie knew that many adventures would await him, and this was only the first chapter in his never ending story of the elite, the best, the Star Raiders! 


	2. Aerilas, Kidd and Louie

Faulkie decided to go out and see the lunar landscape. It looked the complete opposite of what he expected. No craters, no dusty plains. In fact, it was very like ragol. Strange looking green trees and bushes, rivers, warm climate, and evenbreathable oxygen. Faulkie thought that this was a weird moon. The man with pink hair, who later introduced himself as Frusli, told him that this was perfect for the Star raiders' headquarters. In fact, apart from them, the moon was empty. Apparently, this was because no civillians of Pioneer 2 knew about it. After he thought about it, Faulkie reaslised that even he had no idea that this moon was liveable. He realised that it was a conspiracy. Of course, the government would do anything to keep the Star Raiders, they must value their constant protection to the people of Pioneer 2. But why the secrecy? Faulkie decided he'd ask someone later.  
Faulkie stopped at the sea. He must have walked about a mile from the headquarters because he could just see it on the horizon. He took off his shoes and walked a little into the sea. Faulkie had always loved the sea, ever since he was a child. He stayed for a little while, thinking about life back on Coral. He was thinking for about an hour, then he headed back to base.  
When Faulkie came back 'home', he went through the door again. but unlike the other time, there were just two people in the room.The tall person with the pink hair and someone who he hasn't seen before. The person appeared to be female, a RAmarl. When he took a closer look, he saw that it was Aerilas. The master of the Rati. He was feeding his Yellow winged Rati some rappy guts. People say he has all kinds of Rati. Green Winged Rati, Yellow Winged Rati, Black Winged Rati, etc. There was coming some noises out of an other room so that could of been some other Rati. But another mysterious thing about Aerilas is, that no-one knows his real gender. People say hes male cause of his strength, but others say female cause of the clothes. "Hi" He said to Faulkie. Despite his clothes, his voice told Faulkie that this was a male. "You want to come to fight in the caves with me? I want to feed my new Blue Winged Rati some more Lily guts" Faulkie was a little grossed out by the guts, and his first impression of Aerilas was 'weird' but he quickly accepted the offer. Looks can be decieving after all, and this could get him more involved into the group. "I'd love to" faulkie replied. "Great, meet me in the launch room in an hour!". Then he laughed and walked away.  
This gave Faulkie loads of time. He stayed in the room until two, quite different hunters entered. One was short, with red messy hair, matching his dark red HUmar clothes. He looked young, but not quite as young as Faulkie and he had a smiling expression on his face. The other person was also a HUmar, but this one wwas taller, and wore clothes as dark as the night sky, complete with a cape. Also, he had long, silver hair and a face covereded with shadows, like his personality. He had a katana in his hand and was quite obviously very serious about his training. If there were two people more different, Faulkie had not yet met them.  
"Hello" Said the red-haired one. "my name is Kidd and my... associate goes by the name Louie." Faulkie wondered if these were their real names but at the same time doubted it. "My name is Faulkie, pleased to meet you" he replied, and then added, for conversation's sake. "That Aerilas is pretty strange eh? His look says female but his voice says male!" "Yeah, he's a drag queen-- hang on... did you say you heard his voice?!" replied Kidd, joking first, as usual. "Yeah, he invited me to go hunting with him in an hour, no big deal, right?" asked Faulkie. "NO BIG---" Kidd started until Louie interrupted. "Did he mean a moon hour?" "I guess so, how long is that?" Faulkie hadn't though of it before, but the moon must have different time to Pioneer 2. "One hour here is 14 minutes Pioneer 2 time" replied Louie. It had already been 9 minutes. "Where's the launch room?!" Faulkie called frantically. Louie pointed left and Kid pointed right. Faulkie decided that Louie was more knowledgeable so he ran off in the left direction. "Hmph!" Faulkie heard Kidd say. "Sorry, nothing personal!" Faulkie called behind him before he ran through the launch room door. 


	3. Where is my android?

It was called the lauch room because the walls were lined with pods, to get to Pioneer 2 and Ragol, but since a telepipe system had been stabilised, the pods were rarely used. The large, main teleporter to Ragol was in the middle of the circular launch room, and there was another leading to Pioneer 2 at the side. In front of the large teleporter stood Aerilas, looking emotionless. "You ready, kid?" asked Aerilas. "Ready as I'll ever be!" replied Faulkie, and with that, Aerilas walked into the teleporter, beckoned Faulkie with his hand, at which he followed into the teleporter, and pressed a button. A computer voice said "Co-ordinates (2452,7429) locked. Caves 1 is the destination", and the teleporter hummed, then faulkie had the feeling as though he was melting, like he was two places at once. Faulkie knew the feel of being teleported. With that, they immediately appeared in the caves. Faulkie had heard of dragons living here, and all sorts of mutated beasts, but he was sure he'd be ok with the help of Aerilas. The first room had some evil sharks. No problem. Faulkie used Gifoie and hit them all save one, which Aerilas hit with his handgun and killed it. He then swiftly switched to a shot, and shot and killed all the ones Faulkie had weakened. Faulkie already admired Aerilas' fighting skills, the fact he could change weapons so quickly, the fact he could inflict so much damage with a handgun and shot, although Faulkie was sure he had many more tricks up his sleeve. The next few rooms were very similar, with evil sharks and the odd pal shark here and there, but Aerilas was a lot more pleased with the next room. They stood in a room with seven poison lilies and two nar lilies. 'Wow! two nar lilies!' said Faulkie, which was replied with 'Don't get to excited.' by Aerilas. Faulkie ducked out of the way of a toxic spit attack, and used Zonde on one of the poison lilies, but then got paralised by one of the nar lilies. Faulkie felt wierd, he couldn't move an inch of his body and it felt all tingly. He could still see, however, and could see Aerilas coming towards him with an antiparalysis. It was an injection, so Aerilas injected it into Faulkie's arm. Of course, it didn't hurt, as his body was numb. He instantly felt alright again, it was amazing what medical science could do. Faulkie took a deep breath, then realised there were still eight monsters in the cavern they were in. Quickly, he sprang to action, using Resta on himself and Aerilas, and Shifta on Aerilas. With that, he shot five of the liles with his shot, one of which was a nar lily. There were three left, which Faulkie quickly killed with a gibarta. 'Good job.' congratulated Aerilas, 'But kill the hard ones ASAP.', and then he went to check out the treasure the lilies had dropped. Quite a lot of meseta, and some junky items, but Aerilas found something he liked even more. He picked up the guts of one of the nar lilies and fed it to his rati. Faulkie felt as though he was going to be sick. However, he said nothing. They progressed into the next room, and saw something that took them by surprise - a man lying on the floor. He was definitely a HUmar, as he was wearing the right clothes. These were black, like his hair, which covered his face mostly. Despite this, a large scar over his right eye was clearly visible. He looked like the sort of person who would be similar to Louie. Around him was a group of nano dragons. 'No wonder he was defeated, poor guy...' said Faulkie, but Aerilas was silent. 'Is he... dead?' asked Faulkie. 'I don't know, let's defeat those monsters!' replied Aerilas. Faulkie and Aerilas quickly defeated them, because Faulkie had ice techniques, and Aerilas had his guns. The rushed over to the man. On closer inspection, they saw that he had with him several weapons and countless mates and fluids, as well as antidotes and antiparalysis. This many was obviously very well prepared, or very cautious. He started to wake up. 'Where... Where is my...' he started, then trailed off. 'Where is your what?' asked Faulkie. 'Where is my... Android...'


	4. Grand Empress Ming

'Your android?' asked Faulkie. 'Ye... s.' he replied. 'Who are you anyway?' asked Faulkie. 'My name is Itxi... I need my android, she is black, with white...'. Faulkie and Aerilas were confused. Who was this guy?! 'White eyes... and a long... long ponytail...' he finished. 'I think he needs medical help." said faulkie, and with a breif nod of agreement from Aerilas, Faulkie used reverser on Itxi. He was still weak, so Faulkie used Resta twice on him. He was very weak. Then, Faulkie used a trifluid. Itxi stood up, but collapsed straight away from the weight of his equiptment. 'Why do you carry so much?' asked Aerilas. 'Just in case something happens like...' Itxi replied. Faulkie waited for the second half of the sentence for ten seconds, then replied, 'Are you feeling ok?'. Faulkie decided to take him back to Pioneer 2's hospital, as he clearly wasn't 100 ok. Faulkie laid a telepipe and led Itxi through it. He was tired so it wasn't hard to guide him to the hospital. Once they were there, he told the nurse where he was found, so they could check for poison, and left him there. Faulkie was sure he'd be ok. He had also left a card on the side of his bed which read his BEE number, so he could communicate with him when he had recovered. Faulkie and Aerilas walked out of the hospital, right into an android. Faulkie looked at her and reaslised something. Her black paint, white glowing eyes and ponytail... could this be Itxi's android? 'Watch where you're going, or you'll feel the photon end of my Soul eater!!' she said, upon being bumped into. 'I'm very sorry ma'am, but...' Faulkie started but was interrupted by the android, 'Ma'am?! You will refer to me as grand empress ming, thank you very much! We androids are far above you newmans... and humans for that matter!'. 'Cut the crap, Ming.' said Aerilas, getting angry now. 'Watch who you talk to like that!!', replied Ming. Aerilas took out a strange gun which faulkie had never seen before. Ming took out a scyth, which Faulkie assumed was a Soul eater. Faulkie knew it was suicide, but he had to break it up. He ran between them, shouting 'STOP!!'. They bothe looked at him. He looked at ming. 'Grand empress ming, do you know someone called Itxi?'. Ming looked angry. 'That scumbag?! Yeah I know him, I took pity on how pathetic he is, but now I'm stuck with him!'. Faulkie said, 'So you're his android?'. 'HIS ANDROID?!!!! H-I-S A-N-D-R-O-I-D?!!!!!' shouted Ming, she was clearly very angry now, 'That PATHETIC excuse for a hunter said that I, the skilled hunter and beautiful grand empress Ming was HIS ANDROID?!!!! THAT'S IT!! WHERE IS HE?!!!!'. Faulkie was scared. 'I could tell her, and Itxi would get killed, he is sick after all, but there are people there to protect him... nurses. What am I thinking?! She'll killl them all! I could not tell her, but then me and Aerilas will get killed. I could just tell her somewhere else, then she wouldn't find Itxi, and me and Aerilas would be able to get away', Faulkie thought. To him, the last one seemed the best idea. 'He's in the residential area.' He lied. They were on Poineer 2 now, not on the Moon. 'YOU LYING SCUM!! I TOLD YOU THAT WE ANDROIDS ARE BETTER THAN YOU!! OUR LIE DETECTOR FEATURE IS 100 ACCURATE!!'. Faulkie knew he was in trouble. He was a 13 year old boy with a mad android trying to kill him. Then he thought about something at school. He was top of the class at electronics... Ming lunged at Faulkie with her Soul eater, and Ming, being blinded with rage, left herself easy to be 'leapfrogged' by Faulkie. He was behind her, but something struck him, her back was welded on... how would he open her up? Swiftly thinking, he used Foie to weaken the metal, then punched it to open it. All of this had taken plae in about 3 seconds, and Ming still hadn't noticed that Faulkie was behind her.. It wasn't too hard. He was looking at all the wires inside, trying to remember which one to cut. His concentration wasn't helped by Ming's screams of, 'DON'T LOOK IN THERE YOU PERVERT!!! THIS IS NO WAY TO TREAT A GRAND EMPRESS!!!'. Faulkie couldn't remember what wire to cut, so he decided he'd short circuit her with a Zonde. He used it and Ming shut down. They had just a few minutes to escape before Ming would awaken. Faulkie and Aerilas ran as fast as they could to the telepipe. Even Ragol's monsters were safer than Ming!


	5. Mutants

They went back through the teleporter and once again Faulkie felt the strange feeling all over his body. When him and Aerilas were there, they continued through the caves mostly silently. Faulkie was thinking about the enemies as he killed them. They were mutants. Actually, most life forms on Ragol were mutants, the altered beasts, of course, but the native animals were also changing. Soon, all forest dwelling animals would live underground. Boomas were starting to make nests underground already. Faulkie had heard that a giant worm, De Rol Le, had mutated the animals. But these weren't the only mutants in existance. Newmans, too were mutants, genetically modified humans for advanced magical skills. Every human has a magic gene in them, and by enhancing that gene, humans become new age humans, or newmans. Of course, their production was controlled by the govournment, or newmans would outnumber humans by far. But not every newman was created individually, newmans can breed. Faulkie, however, was made seperately. He had no parents. This made him different. With most newmans, their family was created many many generations ago. In fact, the first newmans were created about 100 years ago, back on Coral. Thus, some newman families were 100 years old, but Faulkie was the first in his family. He was created in a lab. He had no family. This was partly the reason he turned to The Star Raiders. He wanted to feel wanted, somewhere.par Faulkie was distracted, thinking of all this. So distracted, he didn't even notice how far they had moved. They were stood at the foot of a large teleporter. This would lead to the sewage pipes. Faulkie knew that the people of pioneer 2 had set these up. He also knew of reports of a 'mine' a little bit further on. The sewage pipe was the only was from the cave they were in to the mine. The teleporter took them to a long pipe with a raft in the middle. Aerilas pushed a button on the raft and it started moving. Faulkie looked down into the murky water, and, to his surprise, saw a tenticle come out. 'Aerilas!' he called, and he looked around. Aerilas saw the tenticle too and said, 'watch out kid, this might be hard!'. Faulkie decided to use Rafoie on the segments of the giant wormlike creature that swam next to the raft. Aerilas drew the gun that Faulkie couldn't identify and shot it's body several times. They repeated this several times until the monster sunk back into the water. 'That was easier than expected.' commented Aerilas. Faulkie didn't know how Aerilas felt, but faulkie thought that was enough adventuring for one day.par Him and Aerilas went back to the Star Raiders HQ, and said their goodbyes, so that Faulkie was once more alone. He had to go and see SirTom909 to ask where his room was. He went back to the office in which he first met the man. Expecting to see a RAmar, he saw a tall HUmar with pink hair and green clothes. It was frusli. 'Hi.' greeted Frusli. 'Hi', replied Faulkie, 'Where's SirTom909?'. 'I'm looking after the place,' said Frusli, 'The big guy went to Pioneer 2 for some supplies.'. After a quick thankyou, Faulkie went back to Pioneer 2. 'What a chore!' Faulkie thought. He was tired and needed sleep, but he needed to find SirTom909. As he walked the empty city streets of Pioneer 2, he saw a sight that almost stopped his heart. It was Ming. 


	6. Ming's change of heart

'So... disengage me will you?!', cried Ming, clearly very angry. Faulkie was very scared. This time he was alone, no Aerilas, nobody. He stood facing Ming. Although she was an android, her facial expressions showed she was angry. Android technology was amazing, and a subject that very much interested Faulkie. But at the moment, Faulkie wished that androids had never been invented, as it seemed that they would be his untimely end. Ming started moving in for the kill, soul eater in hand, eyes glowing red. That was when a RAmar jumped down. He looked tough, with black hair and stubble, as though he was a very skilled ranger. In his hand was a Baranz launcher, which showed what he was capable of. 'Hey android, you wanna pick on someone? Pick on me!' he said. Ming went mad, and started moving towards the man. 'HOW DARE YOU CALL ME ANDROID?!' she shouted, 'AND WORSE STILL, YOU PROTECT THIS PERVERT KID!!'. Jason looked at Faulkie. 'Long story.' he said. As his head was turned, Ming saw her chance. She leapt at the RAmar, swinging her soul eater madly. Jason swiftly blocked with his photon sheild, and blasted at Ming, which knocked her back a lot. At this, Ming got even more angry. She glowed with energy. Ming had a photon blast! She harnessed the energy into the form of a pair of cute creatures. This was Mylla and Youlla. Suddenly, her attack power and defense increased radically. She swiped again, this time at Faulkie. He narrowly dodged her attack. She tried again. She focussed on a point, and she hit... Faulkie and the man were unharmed. Ming was so angry, that she wasn't functioning properly. Faulkie saw his chance and fired a Zonde at her. She short circuited. The man aimed his Baranz launcher at Ming. He wouldn't miss. He never missed. 'Stop!' Faulkie called. 'What?!' asked the man. 'Don't shoot her, I can see she's ok inside... '. Faulkie went over to her and opened her back up with a screwdriver. He could remember perfectly how to do this. He tinkered around with the mechanics inside Ming. Five minutes later, Faulkie had finished. 'That should teach her a lesson in manners.' said Faulkie. 'In case it doesn't, I'll be here to protect you, kid.' replied the RAmar. 'Who are you anyway?'. 'I'm Jason, a RAmar. I am also in the Star Raiders and have been assigned to protect you from Ming'. 'But who sent you?'. 'Itxi did, he recovered just fine and joined us. Good work with him by the way.'. 'Thanks.' Faulkie replied, 'so you're my bodyguard?'. 'You could say that.' replied Jason, 'So, where to?'. 'Well, I need to find SirTom909 to find out my room number'. 'I saw him in the shop, lets go.'. With that, Faulkie and Jason walked away towards the shop. Faulkie looked back at Ming. She looked so helpless. He walked over to her and rebooted her. 'Wanna come, Grand Empress?'. 'Yeah alright...' She replied, 'but don't expect me to join the space raiders!'. 'Ok,' replied Faulkie. Jason tutted. 'Don't worry, ok Jason? I got an A in electronics!'. said Faulkie. 'Whatever.' he replied. Again, they walked towards the shop, this time being followed by Ming. They arrived to the store for Faulkie to see a familiar face, and two new ones. SirTom909 was there with a young woman and a young boy, perhaps younger than Faulkie. When he arrives the boy was saying to the woman in the item shop, 'Sure, I'm young, but why won't you go out with me?!' and the girl was saying to the weapons salesman, 'But 200 meseta is a great price for that sword! Why won't you sell it to me?!' and SirTom909 was stood in the middle of it all, trying to buy supplies for the Star Raiders. He noticed Faulkie, Jason and Ming standing there and said, 'Hi Faulkie, Jason.'. 'Hi.' they replied. 'Have I introduced you to Matthew...' he pointed to Matthew, now saying, 'Come on, I bet you've dated guys shorter than me!' '...and Senena?', now saying, 'Ok, 410 meseta, that's my final offer!'. Faulkie shook his head. He looked at Matthew, he was a young HUmar, with blue hair and eyes, wearing blue clothes and with odd coloured skin. Then he looked at Serena. She was a pretty young woman who was a RAmarl. She was wearing military camoflage, and long blonde hair. She said, 'Have you met Louie?'. Faulkie nodded. 'I know him.' she added. 'And is this Ming that Itxi told me about?' asked SirTom909. 'Yeah, what's it to ya?' asked Ming, rudely. SirTom909 laughed. 'Lets go back to base.' he said. And with that, he whistled and Serena, sword in hand and 1000 meseta less well off, and Matthew, with a fake BEE number on a piece of paper, turned around and walked over to SitTom909. 'Lets move out, Star Raiders.' he said, and with that all six of them walked to the teleporter that would take them to Ragol's moon, and the Star Raiders' base.


	7. Secret Mission

After a few months with the Star Raiders, Faulkie was really feeling like he belonged there, and since he joined, he had turned 14. Everyone was friendly towards him and he was happy. The only problem was that he hadn't been on any big missions since he arrived, just little outings to the forest, but that would all change soon. The govournment contacted SirTom909, and told him to get the Star Raiders together for a secret mission. SirTom909 rounded up all the StarRaiders, some Faulkie had never even seen before, into the conference room. Faulkie had never been here before and assumed that this room was only used in this sort of situation. SirTom909 started by saying 'Welcome, Raiders, to the conference of our latest mission. It is directly from the govournment, and they gave us no information about the mission, except the co-ordinates.' 'It sounds pretty fishy to me.' said Louie, which followed by a group murmour of agreement. 'Quiet, please. Thankyou. The problem with that is we have no choice, the govournment of Pioneer 2 are the people who keep our location a secret. We can't refuse. I'm sure it'll be ok anyway.' 'Where and when will this take place?' asked a pretty young woman. 'Good question Kasi. We must leave first thing tomorrow, and we'll be briefed on Ragol's other moon, the govournment's top secret base. I have no more information at all. Faulkie? Have you met Kasi?' said SirTom909. 'Um... no, I haven't.' replied Faulkie. 'Ok, it may not look like it, but Kasi is an android.' replied SirTom909. 'Hello, pleased to meet you Kasi' said Faulkie, and Kasi replied in the same manner. 'Anyway, this concludes this meeting, hopefully I'll see you all tomorrow in the launch room. Goodbye Raiders!' Everyone walked out of the room, except Faulkie and SirTom909. 'Do you think it's safe?' asked Faulkie. 'I'm sorry but I don't know... you can stay if you want.' replied SirTom909. 'No, I want to come.' 'See you tomorrow then.' Faulkie went back to his room and straight to bed. He couldn't sleep, he kept thinking about the mission. He was excited and scared at the same time. Finally he fell asleep and dreamed. He dreamed of knowing the person who created him, and why, as it was his greatest wish. He wanted a family. He woke up, and realised that the Star Raiders were his family, and it was time for a little family outing. Faulkie dressed in his FOmar clothes and armour, picked up his weapon and MAG and walked towards the launch room. Faulkie was excited to be finally going on a mission.


	8. The President

Faulkie was sitting in a pod with Jason, Ming and a new face to Faulkie. He was a very tall HUcast, bending over a bit to fit in the cramped pod. Faulkie was a little scared of Ming, but that was why Jason was there. The new face introduced himself as Garr, and as soon as Faulkie heard the name, he knew who he was. He had heard stories of this android sitting before him. His great skills as a hunter, his losing his master a few years back and his competitive attitude towards life. Faulkie greeted Garr, and felt safer knowing there were two people to protect him if Ming decided to attack. The pod was speeding towards the other moon, and Faulkie could see it in the distance. It shone silver with all the metal research labs on the moon. They would arrive in a few minutes. The four hunters were not alone. In another pod, there sat Kidd, Louie, Serena, Kasi and Itxi, and in a third sat Aerilas, Jason, Aurora (who's name Faulkie had caught while getting on the pod) , Matthew and SirTom909. It would be there in three minutes. Faulkie was wondering what the mission was, and how hard it would be. He wanted a challenge, something to be proud of, but he didn't want to die. Suddenly, there were three loud crashes and they landed into the port. Faulkie was very shaken as he'd never traveled by pod before. Everyone else seemed fine. Garr gestured for faulkie to get out, and he did, followed by Garr, Ming and Jason. Faulkie looked around the high-tech port and saw that the other two pods had been emptied and there were fourteen members of the Star Raiders stood at the port. 'Ok Raiders, follow me.' said SirTom909 and the remaining thirteen members followed him throught the industrial streets of the moon. Unlike the Star Raiders' moon, the air was not breathable and the landscape was barren and rocky, with craters. The streets of the base were under a large glass dome, with artificial air. They walked for ten minutes or so until they came to a large hall. They went into a reception area, and told the receptionist who they were. Upon hearing this, she looked excited and let them in right away. The room they were in now had a very high ceilings, and all kinds of stone ornaments, such as gargoyles around the edge. 'Nice place' Kidd commented. Straight ahead, there was a large pedastol with an old man behind it, and four pillars around the edge of the area in front of the pedistal. Faulkie didn't recignise the old man, but Aurora gasped and whispered 'That's the president of Pioneer 2!'. There was a quiet muttering from the Star Raiders until SirTom909 hushed them. After about thirty seconds, the president talked. 'Hello, StarRaiders. I have called you to partake in a very important mission.' 'What do you want, Sir?' asked Garr. 'Oh, you're not going to be doing anything from now on.' said the president, and with that, the four pillars around them shot out photon, to make a cage with photon bars, and Aerilas tried to break through them by shooting them with his gun, but it had no effect on the bars. Kasi got out her Red Partisan, and that had no effect either. The Star Raiders realised their weapons would be no good. Some people were looking sad, others angry, but Faulkie hadn't moved in all this time. He couldn't beleive that the govournment would do this, and why. Little did he know, his question would soon be answered. 'You may wonder why we just did that. Let me explain. You are the Star Raiders. You are the top, the best! If you decided you wanted to overthrow me, you could. If you decided you wanted to kill civillians, you could. We simply cannot take any risks. Goodbye Raiders! You will now be taken to a cell to be executed tomorrow. That is all.' Then, slowly, the cage sank into the floor, into the room below. The prison level.


	9. Faulkie's day

Aurora and Serena were crying, Jason was trying to break the bars with his Baranz launcher, to no avail. Garr, Kidd and Aerilas were also trying to escape, using various methods. Ming, Louie and Matthew were stood still looking angry, perhaps still in shock, and Itxi had given up hope and collapsed on the floor. Faulkie and Kasi were stood silently. Faulkie was thinking about his first, and last mission. He was going to die. SirTom909 looked oddly calm in such a hopeless situation. They were now underground, in the prison level of the base. 'Ok' said SirTom909 after a few minutes, 'We can get out, but we need to put all of our skills to use. Look around, everyone. What resources do we have?' Faulkie looked around, as did everyone else. They were in a square cell surrounded by photon bars on all sides. behind the bars was darkness; the cage was in a room barely big enough to contain it. It certainly looked hopeless. Ming walked over to the bars. She put her finger into the metal part where the photon was created. Her eyes went blank and she made beeping noises. Then there was an immense electrical sound, and the photon stopped. Ming fell to the ground. Her eyes were no longer lit up. She's short circuited again, but this time it was serious. She might not pull through. Faulkie walked over to her. 'I hope you'll forgive me for this.' He said, as he picked her up. 'I might be able to fix her.' He added, this time to the watching Star Raiders. A loud alarm sounded. 'They've detected us! We haven't got long to get out!' Said SirTom909. Faulkie was scared, but also excited. SirTom909 led them out of the room, running, and the StarRaiders followed, carrying Ming on his back. They went through a door, and came to another. This room was a corridor, with lots of other doors coming off. There was a computer lock on the wall. 'Hmmm...' Said Faulkie, 'I just might be able to hack this.' and after about 10 seconds, all the surrounding doors opened. 'Well done Faulkie!' Said Jason. Faulkie was pleased. He wasn't the best fighter, but it made him feel good that he had other skills. There were five possible ways to go, and twelve StarRaiders, excluding Ming. 'Ok, Jason, you stay with Faulkie and Ming.' Said SirTom909. 'Roger!' Said Jason in confirmation. 'Aurora and Kidd go through the first door, Serena and Aerilas, the second, Garr and Itxi, the third, Louie and Matthew the fourth, and Kasi, come with me to the fith. Got it?' Said SirTom909 to the StarRaiders, 'And use the radio if you find something.' 'Roger!' Replied all the other StarRaiders. Everyone went through their doors, so Faulkie was alone with Ming and Jason. 'Sorry you have to keep looking after me, Jason.' Said Faulkie, panting because of having to run with Ming. 'No problem, kiddo. I voluntered.' Before Faulkie knew what to say, his and Jason's Radios went off. 'Kidd here.' It said. 'We're in a little trouble... We found some guards. They're after us! Over.' 'Ok.' Replied Garr's voice, 'This seems to be the exit! All StarRaiders to gate three! I repeat, all StarRaiders to gate three!'. Apon hearing this, Jason became alert. 'Come on Faulkie!' He said, then 'Let me take this junk' as he took Ming off of Faulkie, despite his dislike for her. 'Thanks' Replied Faulkie, as he started to run towards gate three. They ran down the long corridor, until they got the the end. It was light, and Garr and Itxi were already there. They stopped at the end, to wait for the others. StarRaiders never leave each other behind. Serena and Aerilas caught up first, followed by Kasi and SirTom909, then came Louie and Itxi, followed by Aurora and Kidd, shouting 'Go go go go go!!' Faulkie guessed that the guards were got on their trail. They ran out of the door, out into the light. As he passed, Garr took Ming off Jason. 'Thanks mate.' Said Jason briefly. They wer outside, running down a street of the base, led by SirTom909. Something hit Faulkie. Where would they go? And how would they get here? SirTom909 looked like he had it covered. He ran into a military hangar. There was an spacecraft in there. 'Get in everyone, quick!' Said SirTom909. Everyone hopped in, but nobody got into the driver's seat. 'Who can drive this thing?' Asked Itxi. Faulkie thought. Could he do it? He could try! Faulkie hopped in, started the engine by hacking into the code. He pressed a button... was it the right one? The craft took off, right through the hangar roof. Faulkie maneuvered the craft out of the dome of the base. Everyone gave a group sigh of relief. They were free. Faulkie's first mission had been a success!


	10. The SR Christmas party

It was almost Christmas and there was an atmosphere of excitment over all of the StarRaiders. Although they had lost their base, they were as cheerful as ever. They had all decided to lie low on pioneer 2 for a while, because they were all probably wanted criminals by now. To discuise themselves, they couldn't even wear their hunter uniforms, and instead had to wear civillian clothes. They were in a block of a residential area, and all the StarRaiders were doing their part to make it look festive... except Ming, who was still short circuited, and Faulkie, who was trying to fix her. It had been 5 days now, with no success. Everyone had given up on her, except Faulkie and Itxi. In their shared living area, Kidd said to Matthew 'Phew, putting these decorations up is hard work, what's the point of this, what is Christmas celebrating?' Nobody knew how the answer this. In truth, nobody on Pioneer 2 knew what Christmas really was any more. As generations went on, the people forgot the story of Christmas, and was now just a time of good will and kindness. Although they didn't know what it was celebrating, it was still held at the same time, with the same decorations. Most people assumed it was an acient religious holiday, but nobody knew for sure. 'Stop being such a Scrooge and help us!' joked Matthew, decorating a large tree in their shared living area. Serena, Itxi, Kasi, Kidd and Aurora were helping him, putting decorations of all shapes and sizes on the pine tree. Well, it resembled a pine tree of earth, but, of course, was a Ragol substitute. Jason and Garr were very happy at being allowed to go down ito the forest to get it, as they obviously missed the hunter life. Most of them did, but at the same time, wanted a little break. SirTom909 and Louie were putting up tinsel and lights around the room, until Kidd ran past and knocked it down again. They all laughed. It was Christmas, everyone was happy! In his room, Faulkie had Ming's lifeless body on his bed, while he was trying to wake up Ming's central chip, to add it to the new body he got for her. The central chip is like a brain. Personality, memory and control were all done in the central chip. All other parts could be replaced, except this part. Aurora came in. 'I brought some food for you', she said, and handed Faulkie a plate with a cheese sandwich on it. 'Thanks.' Said Faulkie, and she walked out again, to finish the rest of the party food. There was to be a Christmas party later, for all of the StarRaiders, but nobody expected Faulkie to come. A few hours later, the decorations were up, the food was made, and the music was ready. The party was about to start... without Faulkie. 'Shall we tell him the party's starting?' Asked Kasi. 'Better not disturb him' Replied Louie. 'Ok then, let's party!' Yelled Jason. For the next two hours, Faulkie was in his room, doing all he could to save Ming, the android that almost ended his life. He was alone all this time, except for the occasional visit from Itxi. The rest of the StarRaiders were in the next room, having their Christmas party, eating party food, dancing, and drinking beer (especially Jason), when suddenly Faulkie burst in. He ran in, then staggered because his legs had gone dead from sitting all this time. 'I've done it!' Faulkie shouted, and in came an android. It was Ming, but in a new body. This time her paintwork was bright pink, and she had humanlike hair. 'What do you think?' Boasted Faulkie. 'Sleek, cool... sexy?'. The rest of the non-android StarRaiders burst out laughing. 'You sound like Elly, mate!' Joked Kidd. 'Hang on, Elly who?' Asked Faulkie. 'I think he means Elly... Elly Parsons, or something.' Said Matthew. 'It's PERSON you fool.' Said Garr, correcting Matthew. 'Elly Person?' Asked Faulkie, 'She's the one that told me how to switch her central chip into the new body!'. 'Yeah, the body which I HATE by the way!' Shouted Ming, talking for the first time. 'That was the deal, I fix you, you use that body for a while. Besides, your proper new one still hasn't come.' Said Faulkie. 'Fine then.' Ming mumbled. 'Anyway, everyone, meet Little Ming!' Said Faulkie, introducing Ming's new look formally. The rest of the StarRaiders cheered, and toasted Ming and Faulkie. 'Anyway, enough talk, someone crank some tunes!' Shouted Itxi, clearly happy. In response to this, SirTom909 turned the music system on, and put in a CD. 'Vamos a Carnival' played. 'I love this song!' Yelled Faulkie, 'Dance with me Ming!', as he grabbed Little Ming's hands and wildly danced with her. 'Newman! You're touching--' Little Ming started, but finished, 'Well, it IS Christmas, but don't get used to it, ear boy!'. 'I wouldn't have it any other way.' Replied Faulkie, laughing. The others followed his lead, and started dancing. Serena danced with Louie, Aurora with Matthew, Kasi with Garr and, of course, Faulkie with Little Ming. Jason and SirTom909 were at the side, drinking beer, whilst Ixti and Kidd raided the snack table. Aerilas stood at the side, feeding his Rati. After the dancing, drinking and eating, came the traditional giving of the presents. Becuase they were low on cash, the StarRaiders could only afford one present for each member between them. Faulkie opened his present. A new tool kit. The other StarRaiders opened their presents too. Most of them got new weapons, excpet Jason, who got a punching bag and a bottle of wine, and Aerilas, who got some Dragon guts, courtesy of Jason and Garr, on their way to get the Christmas tree. Faulkie looked around, and thought about how happy he was to enjoy this with friends, for the first time. Little Ming looked at him. 'Um... thanks' She said to Faulkie, and Faulkie smiled back.


End file.
